Q&A with Dr Pauline Taylor, BVM&S MACVSc

DR. PAULINE SAYS: Nutritionally cats do not get anything special from cow’s milk. Milk is really just a high calorietreat for them. In addition cow’s milk is loaded with more lactose [sugar] and casein [ protein] than most cats can handle. Cats’ bodies after weaning do not have the same ability to break up the sugars & proteins in milk, they do not have an enzyme called lactase in their gut, & as a result the ingested milk sugars can cause diarrhea, bloating and farting in cats drinking cow’s milk. I really don’t recommend you feed your catscow’s milk.